The aims of this study were to assess sensory recovery and impact on life quality after tongue reconstruction of oncological defects using different flap types. Thirty-two patients who underwent tongue reconstruction for oncological defects 9·3 months after surgery with non-innervated radial forearm free flaps (RFFFs) (N = 16), non-innervated anterolateral thigh free flaps (ALTFFs) (N = 8) and nasolabial island flaps (NLIFs) (N = 8), and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls participated in the study. The modalities assessed were cold detection threshold, warm detection threshold (WDT), cold pain threshold, heat pain threshold (HPT), mechanical detection threshold (MDT), mechanical pain threshold (MPT) and the Chinese version of Oral Health Impact Profile-49. ALTFFs was significantly more sensitive than RFFFs (P = 0·005) and NLIFs (P = 0·014) for WDT, and showed a better sensory recovery than RFFFs for HPT (P = 0·011). ALTFFs and NLIFs showed significantly better sensory recovery than RFFFs for MDT (P < 0·005). NLIFs showed the best sensory recovery for MPT, followed by ALTFFs and lastly RFFFs (P = 0·004). NLIFs also showed the least impact on quality of life measures related to psychological discomfort compared to RFFFs and ALTFFs (P < 0·019). All modalities of sensory recovery in RFFFs did not depend on gender and post-operative radiotherapy (P > 0·05). Different flaps for tongue reconstruction of oncological defects appear to have different patterns of sensory recovery and impact on quality of life measures. A longer follow-up period and larger number of participants will be needed in future studies.

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Cavitation is one of the important elements influencing the performance of sea water hydraulic axial piston pump. To understand the working performance of sea water hydraulic axial piston pump under cavitation effects, a fully dynamic numerical model was developed in this article, which has taken into account the fluid compressibility effect, dynamic processes of gaseous, vaporous, pseudo-cavitation and cavitation damage, and the simulation was conducted through a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics code PumpLinx. The cavitation characteristics of the pump were presented with a set of working conditions, as well as the cavitation damage power, dynamic gas volume fraction and vapor volume fraction inside the intake, piston and port plate chamber. A test rig was developed to validate the computational fluid dynamics simulations for the case of sea water hydraulic axial piston pump. Comparisons between the measured and simulated instantaneous discharge pressure, average flow as well as the vibration characteristics under different extents of cavitation by varying the inlet pressure and rotational speed of the pump were presented.

In this study, the nanocomposites are prepared which used polyamide 6 (PA6) composite as matrix, melamine cyanurate (MCA) as fire retardant and attapulgite (AT) as synergistic agent. The mathematical model between MCA content, AT content, and limited oxygen index (LOI) is established by multiple linear regression fitting. The polymer materials are characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Thermogravimetric Analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. Through response surface methodology, the important variables (polymerization time, the content of MCA, and the content of AT) affecting the mechanical strength of composites are modeled. Results demonstrate that when the t is 0.6 h, the AT content is 6.2%, and the MCA content is 11.5%, the mechanical properties of the PA6/MCA/AT composite are up to 44.81 MPa, and the sample passes the UL-94 V-0 flammability rating, and the LOI reaches 27.9%. Therefore, polymers with highly effective flame retardancy and optimal mechanical properties are prepared.